Various designs of portable space heaters are known in which electrical elements are used to generate steam for warming air by directing a fan to blow the air across a heat exchanger. Known steam heaters typically require a high pressure vessel in which the steam is generated in a closed loop system. High pressure vessels can be costly due to additional safety precautions that are required.
Examples of space heaters using electrical elements to generate steam include U.S. Pat. No. 1,678,059 to D'Ardenne, U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,180 to Kennedy, U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,567 to Boecher, U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,732 to Carter and U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,798 to Tagnon. In general the circulation of air provided by these heaters is often inadequate for evenly heating a large space and special consideration is required for accommodating pressure resulting from generation of steam. While Carter and Kennedy noted above disclose units for drawing air from above the unit adjacent a ceiling of a space to be heated, both mount the fan element adjacent a top end of the unit resulting in an unstable configuration which is not readily portable.